CHAPEL HILL – The decision isn’t a complicated one, because while there are only three possible answers to the question every referee asks every captain before the start of every college football game, there is really only one choice to be made when the opposition defers its decision to the second half.

Instead of saying “We’ll take the ball,” North Carolina wide receiver Quinshad Davis told referee Ron Cherry that the Tar Heels would kick off to start their game against Middle Tennessee. It was a mistake that forced UNC to kick off to start the second half, as well, since it was the Blue Raiders’ turn to make the choice.

Although everything ended up working out for the best, with the Tar Heels earning a 40-20 victory, it was clear that coach Larry Fedora was still more than a little upset about the coin toss confusion in his postgame comments.

“Well that was our strategy going into the game. We felt like it would help them out and wanted to see if we could get more time with the defense on the field,” Fedora said sarcastically. “It was really just a miscommunication between the captains and myself. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

So what exactly did happen?

“I really don’t know,” Fedora admitted. “I wasn’t real happy. I didn’t really listen to what (the captains) were telling me. I’m not sure exactly when I realized it. When I was talking to the guys on the sideline about getting ready and all of a sudden someone said we’re kicking off and I said ‘okay.’ Then Ron Cherry was looking at me like I was an idiot. I didn’t know why he kept looking at me like that. Then I found out afterwards.”

Boston

According to the other three captains involved – safety Tre Boston, Bandit Norkeithus Otis and tight end/linebacker Jack Tabb – the problem stemmed from a “miscommunication” between Davis and Cherry.

“It happened fast,” Tabb said after the game. “They deferred and (Cherry) looked at us and Quinshad said something. There was a miscommunication between him and the ref. Then Tre said, ‘Kick it anyways.’ I was like, ‘Hold on,’ but they were just like, ‘We’ll kick it, it’s fine.’ We just went with it.”

Boston verified Tabb’s version of what happened, saying his intent was simply to help Davis out. “He was just fumbling with his words,” Boston said, “because the referee was confusing all of us.”

The confusion spilled over to the sideline once the captains returned.

“I was definitely stunned by that,” quarterback Bryn Renner said. “I asked Quinshad about that and got a clarification, but I think he just misunderstood the referee. I hope that doesn’t happen next week.”

It definitely won’t. The Tar Heels aren’t scheduled to play next Saturday.

But when they do return to action in their ACC opener at Georgia Tech two weeks from now, Renner is confident that the proper steps will be taken to make sure the mistake won’t be repeated.